About this event
Creative Therapy Circle
The place to reset, create & heal. Claim your seat today.
There are moments in life when something in us cracks open.
A relationship ends. Motherhood stretches us beyond what we thought we could hold. Grief stays in the body long after the event has passed. Shame, resentment, exhaustion, identity shifts, and old survival roles begin to feel too tight for who we are becoming.
Broken Open is a deeply held creative arts workshop inspired by kintsugi — the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with gold. In kintsugi, the cracks are not hidden. They are illuminated. The break is not seen as failure, but as part of the truth and beauty of the whole.
In this Atlas Creative Circle session, we work with that same metaphor through a guided, trauma-informed, embodied art process. This is not about pretending nothing happened. It is not about “fixing” yourself or forcing a breakthrough. It is about learning how to meet what has cracked open with awareness, creativity, nervous-system support, and meaning.
This session is part of Term Two of The Atlas Creative Circle, a field designed for people moving through transition who need a gentle but powerful way to process emotion, reconnect with themselves, and create inner coherence through art, reflection, and embodied practice. The Atlas describes Term Two as a phase of “clarifying and softening,” supporting participants to move from what is hidden into what can be held, named, and consciously re-authored.
What is kintsugi?
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Rather than disguising the fracture, the repair becomes visible and meaningful. The object is not returned to what it was before. It becomes something more honest, more beautiful, and more whole because it has been broken and repaired.
As a creative and therapeutic metaphor, kintsugi invites a powerful reframe:
- the crack is not failure
- the wound is not the whole story
- repair is not weakness
- what has broken open can become part of your truth, your strength, and your beauty
In this session, we bring that philosophy into a guided creative process that supports emotional awareness, embodied reflection, and symbolic repair. The Atlas field guide frames this exact session around “the possibility of repair,” inviting participants to witness grief, rupture, resentment, shame, or an old self that no longer fits, and to create a kintsugi artwork as a symbol of repair.
What this workshop is about
This is a Melbourne art therapy inspired workshop for people who are carrying something internally and need a non-verbal, embodied, creative way to process it.
You do not need to explain everything. You do not need to be good at art. You do not need to arrive “healed.”
You only need to arrive willing.
Through a carefully guided sequence of grounding, somatic regulation, creative exploration, symbolic art-making, and reflection, you will be supported to notice what has been held quietly in the body and psyche — and begin to relate to it in a new way.
This is not a performance-based art class. It is a creative healing space where the process matters more than the final product. The Atlas framework describes its sessions as non-performance based, process-led, trauma-informed, and held through nervous-system regulation, creation, reflection, and affirmation.
What participants will experience
During this session, participants will be guided through a layered creative process that may include:
- nervous-system arrival and grounding
- somatic regulation and embodied check-in
- reflection on rupture, repair, and the stories we carry
- depth collage and symbolic imagery
- a kintsugi-inspired art process using gold line and visual repair
- shadow and archetypal reflection
- gentle witness circle and integration
- a closing anchor practice to carry forward after the session
The Atlas field guide describes Session One as including somatic regulation, depth collage, kintsugi-inspired repair with gold line, transpersonal archetype mapping, containment practice, and a witness circle.
What participants may gain
This workshop is designed to support participants in gaining:
Emotional clarity
You may begin to identify a grief, rupture, resentment, shame pattern, or identity shift that is ready to be witnessed rather than avoided.
Nervous-system support
The session includes grounding and embodied practices that help you arrive more safely in yourself before going into creative exploration. The Atlas approach explicitly places safety before exploration and uses nervous-system regulation as the entry point of the work.
A non-verbal path into healing
For many people, words are not enough. Art offers another route — one that can help access meaning, emotion, and truth without pressure to explain.
A new relationship with what has broken
Instead of seeing yourself as damaged or “behind,” you are invited to explore repair as wisdom, beauty, and integration.
A personal artwork with meaning
You will leave with a kintsugi-inspired artwork that acts as a visual symbol of repair, truth, and the next chapter of your becoming.
Ongoing reflection after the session
The Atlas field guide notes that participants leave with a daily Shadow-to-Strength card practice to help metabolise the work gently after the session.
Who this workshop is for
This workshop is for you if you are:
- moving through a life transition
- emotionally full but struggling to find words
- carrying grief, heartbreak, burnout, motherhood pressure, resentment, or identity change
- drawn to art as a healing practice
- seeking a trauma-informed creative workshop in Melbourne
- longing for depth, beauty, honesty, and a sense of inner repair
- wanting community without performance and spirituality without dogma
- looking for nervous-system support through embodied creative practice
The Atlas describes this field as designed for the sensitive, intuitive, overwhelmed yet high-capacity person moving through transition, craving creativity, community, and nervous-system support, with no artistic experience required.
No art experience is needed
You do not need to be an artist to join this workshop.
There is no correct way to create here. No pressure to make something beautiful. No need to “get it right.”
This work is about process, not performance. The Atlas principles explicitly name acceptance, non-judgment, creativity, presence, and community as the foundations of the field.
What you need for the practice
If attending in person
Please bring:
- comfortable clothing you can move and create in
- a journal or notebook
- a water bottle
- any small personal image, word, or symbol connected to rupture, repair, or renewal
- openness to work gently and at your own pace
Materials for the creative practice are typically provided in the in-person sanctuary format, which the Atlas describes as an intimate physical circle with materials, ritual, embodied creative practice, and regulated shared presence.
Suggested materials used in the practice
Depending on the final setup, materials may include:
- paper or mixed-media base
- collage images or printed textures
- pens or markers
- black ink or dark drawing tools
- acrylic paint or gouache
- gold marker, gold paint, or metallic repair line
- glue
- scissors
- optional textured papers or fragments for layering
Why this kind of workshop matters
Many people live for years carrying fractures that were never truly witnessed. They keep functioning, performing, giving, coping, and enduring — while the body continues to hold what the mind has tried to move past.
Creative practice offers another way.
Research discussed in your materials notes the relevance of creative arts approaches for emotion regulation, stress, trauma, and embodied awareness, especially when attention is given to the body, sensory experience, and safety. Polyvagal-informed approaches in creative arts therapies emphasise body awareness, self-regulation, co-regulation, and resilience-building rather than purely cognitive processing.
That is why this session begins not with analysis, but with arrival. Not with fixing, but with witnessing. Not with performance, but with repair.
What makes The Atlas Creative Circle different
The Atlas is not just an art workshop series. It is a carefully designed creative field that combines:
- trauma-informed facilitation
- nervous-system awareness
- embodied and sensory practice
- symbolic and transpersonal art processes
- reflection without pressure
- creativity as a path to clarity and integration
The Atlas describes itself as a hybrid field held through the Active Kreative Method, with each session moving through initiation, creation, activation, and affirmation.
This means participants are not dropped into emotion without support. They are guided through a process that honours pacing, consent, reflection, and integration.
Bookings: Please purchase directly via our website → https://www.activekreative.com/the-atlas
Availability: Small group. Only 5 spots left.
and the signature Active Kreative methodology.
We move at a gentle, professional pace. You won’t be asked to perform; you’ll be invited to notice—through simple art, soft breath, and clear steps that help the nervous system settle and the creative self return. Most participants leave each week feeling lighter, clearer, and quietly proud of what they made.
How the 9 weeks work (simple + supportive)
- 4 Online weeks (self-guided): Complete anytime that week (10–60 minutes). Camera-off welcome.
- 5 In-person weeks (Cheltenham): Deep, hands-on workshops in a small group. All materials provided.
- Final week: A gentle, celebratory close with shared reflection. Where: Online (self-guided) + Cheltenham for in-person sessions (address on confirmation)
Book now — Only 4 spots left
This circle is intentionally small to protect time and intimacy. Secure your place on our site:
👉 Purchase directly via our website: https://www.activekreative.com/the-atlas
Schedule (9 weeks)
In-person workshops run ~2 hours. Online modules are flexible. Final session times are sent in your welcome email.
Who it’s for
Newcomers to art-as-practice and returning students who want weekly transformation that is gentle, structured, and beautifully held—without heavy processing or performance pressure. No art experience needed.
What to bring
Online: A4 paper, pencil/pen, a few colours, scissors, glue, old mags/offcuts, tracing paper (optional), journal, water; a compass is lovely (optional). In person: all materials provided. Wear comfortable layers; Nov 1 outdoors—bring hat/jacket.
Safety & professional standards
- Sovereign choice: pass, pause, adapt, or step out anytime.
- Witness over fix: no advice or rescuing; optional sharing.
- Time equity: no one performs, no one disappears.
- Process-not-product: beauty welcome; meaning primary.
- Confidentiality: what’s shared stays here (duty-of-care exceptions for safety). We’re therapeutic-arts (non-clinical). If strong emotions arise, we slow down and signpost appropriate supports. Accessibility: chair/floor options, fragrance-free, quiet corner in person, scholarships/payment plans.
